In Defense of Winter
by Paris in December
Summary: Sirius goes to the Potters' shortly before Christmas and has a chat with Lily. Written for the HPFC Four Seasons COMPETITION. Implied Severus/Sirius, James/Lily. Chapters: 1/1. Separate, Together series.


**Author's Note:** Written for the Four Seasons COMPETITION by Rosalie'sRevenge on the HPFC forum.

* * *

It was freezing outside – far colder than it had any right to be when there was no snow to be seen. Sirius shivered and used one hand to pull his heavy cloak more tightly around his shoulders as he reached out with the other hand to knock on the Potters' door. He had to wait only a moment before it cracked open and one of Lily's green eyes peered out at him. Funny how he could tell she was raising an eyebrow even with just a sliver of her face showing.

"He kicked me out," Sirius said in explanation.

The door opened wide enough to admit him. "Quickly, I don't want to let the cold in," said Lily, even as Sirius scuttled inside. A moment later, Lily shut the door again and cast a warming charm over Sirius, pulling his cloak off him in almost the same motion. "Why would he kick you out?"

"Something about end-of-term grading and not wanting to bite my head off from the stress." Sirius grimaced when Lily took the additional step of trying to slap some color into his cheeks. "Lily, I'm fine, the charm was enough!"

"I'm not sure telling you to _leave_ is a much nicer option than snapping at you," Lily pointed out.

Sirius shrugged. "He's trying, all right? Even I think I'm going batty sometimes with so many kids around."

"I thought you liked kids," said James from the doorway to the kitchen. Presumably he'd heard their voices and come out to see what was going on.

"I like _Harry_," said Sirius, "but I've realized lately that Harry is a positive angel compared to some of those students. What are you doing in the kitchen? You'd better not be cooking – I would rather starve."

"There's nothing wrong with my cooking," James protested, but Lily interrupted.

"He's washing the dishes without magic, because he managed to break his wand while attempting to install the Christmas tree. Or at least, he's _supposed_ to be washing the dishes." She leveled a glare at James, who meekly turned around and went back into the kitchen.

"A tree?" Sirius looked across the hall into the living room, but he couldn't see any evidence of it where it usually stood. "Where?"

Lily pointed to a pile of needles and shards of wood in the corner of the hallway.

Sirius winced. "I see."

"Well, let's not stand around in the hallway," said Lily briskly, taking his arm and leading him into the living room. She pointed to the couch and he sat, since it was never a good idea to argue with her when she was in one of her moods. "Are you sure things are working out all right?"

Sirius frowned at his friend, who had taken a seat across from him in an armchair. "Lily, I've been married for ten years. I don't need you for interference."

Lily waved a hand impatiently. "I'm not talking about your marriage! I meant Severus's _job_. You implied he's having some trouble dealing with the students?"

"Oh." Sirius scratched the back of his neck, considering. "I guess it depends on the student. I think he actually enjoys teaching when they're willing to learn, but he doesn't have a lot of patience for the ones that don't pay attention. Between you and me, he's built up quite a reputation in the past few months." He grinned faintly, but then dropped the expression. "In all seriousness, I don't think we can really judge anything yet. We've agreed to keep going until the end of the year, and then we'll decide if he can stay on."

"That sounds like a good plan," said Lily, and Sirius couldn't help but breathe a silent sigh of relief as she relaxed back into her armchair. "So how is Harry doing?"

"He takes far too much advantage of our hospitality," said Sirius wryly. "He visits almost every day. I thought about trying to get him to be more independent, but you know Severus – he loves seeing the kid. So I haven't said anything."

Lily chuckled. "Well, he's only eleven. You should probably be pleased he's spending so much time with you. Next thing we know, he'll be a teenager and he won't want anything to do with you, or any of us."

"I guess so. I can't really judge – I never had what you would call a loving family."

"You have one now," said Lily gently.

Sirius smiled. "I'm aware."

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, listening to the crackling of the fire and the occasional curse or clattering sound from the direction of the kitchen.

"Perhaps you should go out and get a new Christmas tree, since you're here," Lily said eventually. "James won't be any use, and we promised Harry it would be up when he got home."

Sirius shuddered. "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not. It's that cold outside and I hate winter in the first place."

Lily smiled, but the expression seemed overly indulgent to Sirius. "You hate winter? And why is that?"

"Everything bad happens in winter," Sirius muttered.

"Everything?" Lily prompted.

"It was winter when I found out Severus was going to become a Death Eater," Sirius began, ticking off on his fingers, "winter when the Longbottoms were murdered, winter when things fell through with Remus, winter when Remus _died_, and winter when we found out our house has mysteriously gone _missing_."

Lily gave him a sympathetic look. "I was _wondering_ why you came here instead of going home. But good things happen along with the bad, you know."

"Oh?"

"It was winter when Voldemort was destroyed," said Lily, "winter when you mended things with Severus, and winter when you got a special tree up all by yourself to give Harry the best Christmas ever."

Sirius groaned. "You're still making me get that damn tree?" But her words did seem to bring a bit of warmth to his chest that had nothing to do with the fire.

"You're still using language like that when you've spent the past four months at a school?" Lily shot back. "Go, Sirius. Houses don't go missing with people in them, you know. We'll still be here when you get back."

"All right, all right." Sirius levered himself off the couch and stalked back into the hallway for his cloak, making a good show of it for Lily's sake, although he wasn't really angry. He'd gotten quite good at stalking in the last ten years. He took down his cloak and wrapped it around him, but as he opened the door and stepped outside, he thought it didn't seem quite as bitingly cold as it had been just a short while ago.

Maybe winter wasn't so bad after all.


End file.
